A Black Cat Adventure!

The orders were clear. The tactics were set. Attack the target and achieve our goal...

We had been working on Project X3 for months and now it was time to go out there and do it. Gun, loaded, belt, secured, helmet, attatched, trousers, stained. I was ready. As the plane's floor opened and the fresh air whipped through the craft I said my prayers and jumped. Pulling the ripchord was always the worst part of parachuting down into opposing territory but I was able to do it with minimal fuss this time. As soon as the 'chute was up successfully I cocked the gun and peered through the scope. The enemy were near, I could hear them shouting orders. As my feet crunched against the gravel floor the first gunshot rung through the eerie air and I froze for a second rying to locate the gun that had shot it. Being in command of the mission added extra weight to my shoulders. I had to wait for all 8 troops to hit the ground, hopefully no hitting it too hard, before I could set off and save myself. "Never leave a good man down" was a motto I had always abided by, I was to be first onto the battlefield and last off.

My thoughts ran back to my first training session. At 18, I had just left school and been immediately recurited into the forces. At 20 I became one of the youngest commanders that the country had seen but I didn't let that phase me. I remember the recruitment advisor saulting me and handing me my forms. That was only 6 months ago, but they had been 6 very tough months.

As the 8th man hit the ground and unbuckled his 'chute we began to make our way along the small, narrow road. The Bangladeshi sun poured from the sky making the thick protective clothing stick to my skin. The gravel crunched under our feet, realising this would make our position obvious I ordered my men to walk on the grass just to the right of the path. The run down buildings grew more and more battered as we progressed through the fields until we finally had contact. A grenade. It landed no more than 10 metres away but its effects were minimal, it was a stun grenade. The sweat beaded on my face though it was of no concern to me, what I cared about was my men and the task in hand. As we reached the bottom of a hill I realised just how serious this task was to be. At the summit there were about 100 men, all standing armed with AK47's and a sniper or two. I cursed under my breath but didn't want to make my men as scared as I was at the moment so told them to take cover behind the two or three buildings situated nearby. I stood on the nearest, my back pressed up against the house's cool wall.

Breath man, breath. I pressed my eyelids shut and thought it through. There was nothing we had set out in our tactics for a 100 man army, we had only predicted 25 tops. We were screwed. I looked through a the window of the house, a gesture met with gun shot, a sniper bullet whistled through the grass at the front of the building. I looked around at where my men were located. They were all looking at me ready waiting for instructions. The team talk in the plane had been kill the hostiles, neutralise the area. Yeah, 'cause that was gonna happen now. The plane flew overhead, distracting their men for a minute or so, in that time I was ready, knelt under the window and ready for the right moment. The men took their positions, a simple hand movement would result in them starting to shoot. I nodded and done it. I turned to stand and began shooting through the window. 1, 2, 3 men down, 6 or 7 now. It was good but it wasn't enough. As I knelt back down to reload more sniper bullets whistled, these were closer. Their aim was good, I'd have to think of a new place to go, but there were none. As another of my men came down to reload he said to me "It's a 6 bullet sniper sir!" I knew what this meant, a lethal weapon but the 6th bullet had just whistled mearly inches over my head. I had done reloading. It was now or never. I shot again, and hit him first time. He fell like Cristiano Ronaldo being attacked by a bumble bee. No time to celebrate though as there were still another 60 men.

Everything seemed to slow suddenly, I thought back to home, why I was fighting here. There were many families in this country like mine, I had a wife, a young lad, I was fighting for them, and the Bangaldeshi's safety. Just as I snapped back into focus 2 of my men fell. I ran to one of them and found his face covered in blood. He was gone, the other was close to going too. We were down to 6. We had no option. I shouted to the guys to stop, when they didn't hear me I nearly lost it but cooled myself and called again. They got the message this time, just about. We picked up the injured soldier and the one who had passed away and ran. Back along the gravel path, through the fields and around the close to demolished houses. I heard them calling behind us, they were goddam close too. I pulled the radio out of the soldier whom I was carrying's bag. I yelled down it, "we need air support to take us back, one dead, one seriously wounded, get the hell back down here now!" "Roger that" I heard back down the bulky piece of plastic. My pace increased. A chopper was now audible, it touched down before us in minutes, we ran to the air craft, I was the first to arrive so placed the injured man on the floor and told the helicopter medic of his condition. It was looking grim. I turned to see 5 of our men at the chopper. 5 add me and the injured made 7. I cursed again. I turned to the medic and told him I was going to look for him. I ran and turned a corner. I rounded it at top speed fell over. It was the missing troop. He had been shot in the ankle. I looked around to be greeted by the sight of a man with a smoking gun. He had that evil smile spread across his face, that grin that told me it was him. Gritting my teeth I felt for my gun. It wasn't there. I was convinced I was deadmeat and just to wrap it all off another 20 of their men arrived. One of them pulled out a revolver and held it, aiming it straight between my eyes. I had said my goodbyes, my blessings were counted, my trousers now stained in a different way. Just as the man with the pistol was about to shoot a roar rang through the air. I turned around to see a jet black jaguar standing eye-to-eye with the man who seconds ago had a gun pointing for my face but now looked like he'd just had the same accident as I. He shouted something and the men retreated. I looked at the Jaguar for a moment, it had saved me. Seemingly, without realisation of what it had just down for me, it just walked away through a fence towards some of the houses we had passed twice now. I sat for a moment before the man on the ground groaned. I snapped into action and legged it to the chopper.

As we set off for our base about 30 miles away I looked out of the door, beyond the turret attatched to the side that I usually had my eyes on. As we lifted off the ground I looked and saw a jet black fuzz whipp across the small field with the houses. It was the jaguar, I was sure. A black cat had saved me, and sure enough I was soon to save some black cats myself.

I stood in the line at the post office. The snow had, once more, reaked havoc across the United Kingdom once more. I reached the front of the queue and moved towards the area where the post woman was waiting. She sat and said "How can I help?" "A stamp please" I said. I slid the change under the glass and she placed the stamp down. I stood and stared at it for a moment. The woman looked at me as though I was some kind of petrified school student who had just been hit in the stomach in a fight. She cleared her throat snapping me to my senses. I walked away, stamp in hand.

I stood outside, back against the cool wall staring at the stamp, cigarette in my other hand. Everything was now fitting into place in Sunderland, my son was just starting school and my wife and I had settled into the area well and the neighbours all seemed pretty decent. 3 years had passed since my first and last army operation; it had been too much for me. At first I asked for some leave time to sort my head out, but a few weeks after I had opted to retire from the forces with immediate effect. The trainers that had trained me for months seemed upset but understood. There were a few worries on my mind such as their opinions of me now, quitting the army after 1 failed mission, they must have thought I was just a muppet who couldn't handle it. It wasn't that, it wasn't that at all. But that wasn't the worst of my worries. A man had died under my command, 2 had been brutally injured and I had left them. They were my worry. They had been under my guidance, they were my own, and like a teacher cares for prior students, I cared for my men still. I had kept in contact with them all though they had all just been shipped out to Iraq where the war was hotting up yet again.

I looked down at the stamp once more and let the coolness of the wall get to my back. A black cat. It was printed on the stamp, standing there, looking me straight in the eyes. Flashbacks of the day that had ended my past and began my future ran through my head. I still remembered those eyes staring back into mine as vividly as I could the following night. The fact that an animal with no knowing of what it was doing or had done, was stained to my head like a tea bag on paper, it was never going to wash clean, no matter how hard I tried. I put the stamp on the letter, put the letter into the post box and walked away.

*****

A few days later I recieved a phone call. I nearly ignored it as the telephone ID came up with a number it didnt recognise, but I had recognised it, it was the number I had been looking at for days. "Hello, this is the FA, we would like to inform you your request has been accepted and your managerial training shall start in 2 weeks time in London. It shall go on for around a month and if you are successful then you shall be able to take managerial clubs anywhere in the world."

I placed the phone back down in its holder and fell into the arm chair, a bigger smile across my face than my wife had ever seen. "The FA have accepted me" I told her. She smiled slightly and said, "thats nice" and walked away again. I didn't mind that she wasnt as happy as I was, she didn't understand the magnitude of the step up I had just taken in life. It would involve taking a month away from the family and living in a hotel for a month or so but it would be worth it. Famous footballing stadiums popped into my head. The Bernabau, The San Siro, Old Trafford, they all seemed so close now, but yet they were so far. I was looking forwards to this managerial training course. How hard could it be? I mean, I had taken part in one of the biggest UK training camps for the army and passed it in record time at a new low age record that was still yet to be broken despite the desperation for more troops. The time had come for me to step up and begin my managerial career...

I got out of the taxi, shut the door and walked up to the house. The lights of the taxi swung elongated shadows upon the pathway in front of me. It was late, one check on the watch told me 3am late. I walked up to the door and went inside quietly. To my surprise I was greeted by the sound of the TV. I peeped around the side of the door to the sitting room where I found my wife laying asleep. Telling by the cold cup of tea that sat next to her, I was guessing she'd been asleep for a while now. I picked up the TV remote though as I did, an advert came on. "This is the biggest black cat of them all, a jaguar. They are becoming extinct and are perilously close to entering the endangered category so please give £3 a month..." I zoned out for the rest. Black Cats in danger? They wouldn't be for long. Not with me there.

*****

The next day I opened the car door and was immediately greeted by an odour that can only be described as the most feminine smell that has ever clung to my nostril hairs. I coughed and spluttered for a minute or two but regained my composure and got in the car. I suppose that's what you get when you leave your car with your wife for a few weeks, that or a crashed car. I tried turning over the engine, it sounded like a pig being poked with a stick, not a good sign. I slammed the door and began walking whilst typing in the number for the taxi company. "Hiya, yeah I'd like a taxi from Tyne Street to The Stadium Of Light please."

I opened the taxi door and was wafted by a far better smell, though it still wasn't great, sort of an 80 year old taxi driver smell. Sure enough the driver turned and asked me where I was heading. I told him. All was fine. £20 was not fine but it would be soon enough as I'd have some bigger fish to fry. The taxi driver made numerous attempts at starting a conversation but I killed them all immediately as I was in no mood for talking, thinking was the only thing on my mind right now. Thinking of what lay ahead for myself and what lay ahead for the club. I still couldn't believe it, pot luck had been on my side at that academy with that famous old Irishman being there and offering me the chance of a life time!

I was greeted at the stadium by an all too familiar face, even though I'd only met him face to face once I had seen him on the telly as a child enough times! He greeted me with a handshake and none other than Niall Quinn lead me into the stadium. It was dead inside and as we went pitchside I could only begin to imagine the sounds that ricocheted off of the concrete walls and floors of the huge stadium. "So how d'ya like the stadium" My mouth was wide open but I immediately shut it and said, "It's fantastic" Niall smiled and said, "I'll tell you what else it is, if ya like" I nodded, he had me inticed now, that was no easy feat either! "It's gonna be your home, your fortress for as long as you're here, make sure of that." He said.

I later found out why I was being employed as their manager over better people. It turned out Steve Bruce had said no to the job and stayed on at Wigan, that would be the game I wanted to win most this season so I could prove he made the wrong mistake. It then just so happened that Niall was at the academy and took a liking to me and my style, so that's why I was there now! Amazing, I know! We talked over a few things and I signed my contract. The smile on my face was irreplacable, nothing could bring me down at the moment. He then told me that due to me being a new manager he would not be handing me a transfer kitty. My smile faded acutely but I was still just happy to be there.

After a few more hours of talking about the team and meeting the staff etc it was time to go home and tell of the good news for I had just become the manager of Sunderland Football Club!

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